


scraped into sheet metal scraps

by Xaidread



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Chatlogs, Dream Journal, Economics, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Historical References, Human Outsider (Dishonored), Idea dump, Languages and Linguistics, Lists, Meta, Morley (Dishonored), Mythology References, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pandyssia (Dishonored), Serkonos (Dishonored), The Void (Dishonored) - Freeform, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-06-19 04:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 62
Words: 10,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xaidread/pseuds/Xaidread
Summary: The sides of city structures endure wind-whipped wounds, scoured by salt and dust. Some pieces break off every now and then; each point of breakage tells a tale of assembly and slow erosion.This is my scrap heap of ideas, mini-metas, and loose ficlets I've posted on tumblr.





	1. Table of Contents

**Author's Note:**

> I come up with more ideas than I know how to use. If I've inspired someone in any way, I'd like to see the journeys that my ideas have taken the reader!

quick link to [index](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502458/navigate) if the TOC hasn't been updated

content categories

  * **catalogue** : lists of stuff
  * **ficlet** : inspired flash fics
  * **hc** : headcanons
  * **Noctuary** : my personal dream journal entries
  * **reverie** : speculations & wonderings about world building, narrative holes, and why-nots
  * **setup** : narrative-worthy ideas that aren't elaborated enough to be collected in my [Harmonicon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14577573)



List of Chapters with Topic, (Characters), summary, [meta context], {other notes}

  1. **Table of Contents** [you are here]
  2. **catalogue** : timeline directory  
a copy of my personal reference resource posted for the web
  3. **list of minor aus** : various! {updated occasionally with more content}
  4. **setup i** : Pandyssian Penal Colony  
game setting idea
  5. **setup ii** : wearing splendidly white vestments (The Outsider, Daud)  
what the Outsider might wear to his first meeting with Daud
  6. **setup iii** : precursor antiquities craze (Daud)  
pinning down when Daud started investigating the occult
  7. **reverie i** : environmental crisis in Serkonos  
what biomes of Serkonos might have to offer and how humans ruin them
  8. **setup iv** : Forrest Among Vines (Humansider)  
Humansider steals Daud's vineyard
  9. **reverie ii** : furkusal in Morley  
[references a dodgy runestone discovery at isle of Eigg in Scotland; it was confirmed authentic]
  10. **setup v** : blood money (Daud)  
[DH1 inventory flavor description for coin takes note of bearing the Lord Regent's face]
  11. **reverie iii** : bull of heaven  
[how a prior Void god left its mark in cultural memory]
  12. **reverie iv** : true names transcend worlds (Eleuterio Cienfuegos)  
[[response to dadmondmiles](http://dadmondmiles.tumblr.com/post/174453438383/xaidread-dadmondmiles-do-you-think-mr)]
  13. **setup vi** : river krusts below hound pits (Loyalists)  
[[response to persephinae](http://persephinae.tumblr.com/post/174484486091/anyway-ive-been-replaying-dishonored-and-i-got)]
  14. **hc i** : watery bonecharms and characterization (Daud, Emily, Corvo)
  15. **Noctuary I** : Casino (The Outsider)
  16. **Noctuary II** : Errands for the Mob
  17. **Noctuary III** : Ovsr Martins Sr and Jr cameos
  18. **Noctuary IV** : Rail Operator (The Outsider, Daud, Corvo)
  19. **Noctuary V** : debating metaphysics
  20. **Noctuary VI** : crossover (Havelock)
  21. **Noctuary VII** : rising waters (Daud, Corvo)
  22. **Noctuary VIII** : Billie Inks
  23. **Noctuary IX** : Accidental Apotheosis of Lizzy Stride (Daud, Lizzy Stride)  
spymaster!Daud literally gives me nightmares
  24. **Noctuary X** : shapeshifters (Corvo)
  25. **Noctuary XI** : Delilah in the Void
  26. **Noctuary XII** : archaeology class presentation (The Outsider)
  27. **Noctuary XIII** : Monster Hunter Daud
  28. **setup vii** : a long day in Draper's Ward (Daud, Lizzy Stride, The Geezer)  
Daud stayed his hand, Lizzy made her choices
  29. **reverie v** : horse discourse  
Speculations about the livestock industry, Morley's horses, minor points of comparison with Ireland  
[[reblog response to brofligate](http://brofligate.tumblr.com/post/175001823355/i-was-reading-through-some-threads-about-whether)]
  30. **reverie vi** : Flooded District shenanigans (Daud, Whalers)  
Various applications of Daud's power set for life at Rudshore base
  31. **reverie vii** : practical villain elimination (The Outsider, Emily, Delilah)  
[[response](http://princessstabbity.tumblr.com/post/175085544341/you-know-if-i-was-emily-i-would-be-wondering-how) to tumblr user princessstabbity]
  32. **setup viii** : she doesn't smile for just anyone (Delilah, Daud)  
Daud disposes of Delilah's portraits instead of letting them hang around in the Void
  33. **reverie viii** : appearance inventory (The Outsider, Daud)  
notes on character design
  34. **reverie ix** : Burrows is bad news (Hiram Burrows, Zhukov)  
[[response to justdishonoredthings](http://justdishonoredthings.tumblr.com/post/175465667092/editors-note-im-not-sure-if-burrows-was-the)]
  35. **reverie x** : math and magical thinking {rework soon}  
[list of significant numbers]
  36. **reverie xi** : separation anxiety (The Outsider, The Void)  
You can take the man out of the Void but--  
[[response to a2gn](https://a2gn.tumblr.com/post/175933558685)]
  37. **ficlet** : monument to his shame (Daud, Whalers)  
Above the urban swamp, the weather-worn face of a dead Empress hardly rises over her ruined domain.  
[[inspired by adrift](http://a-driftamongopenstars.tumblr.com/post/176048707682/dishonored-has-such-a-beautiful-aesthetic-the-sun)]
  38. **ficlet** : invisible hands at fortune's wheel (Wallace, Treavor)  
[[inspired by k1spiegel](http://k1spiegel.tumblr.com/post/176467270232/xaidread-k1spiegel-the-wheel-is-turning-now)]
  39. **reverie xii** : threefold death (Daud)  
mythical thinking
  40. **reverie xiii** : cursed Daud  
what the outcome of TROD means for Daud and the Void
  41. **reverie xiv** : I want reality to burn (Humansider)  
being a person is overwhelming
  42. **reverie xv** : consequences of void rifts  
post-DOTO speculation for Novel #3
  43. **reverie xvi** : devotional music (The Abbey)
  44. **reverie xvii** : documenting the supernatural with antiquarian anthropology  
Abbey cosmology vs folklore
  45. **reverie xviii** : The Outsider's skills  
he could be vicariously competent but does he have imagination
  46. **reverie xix** : fashion of the isles discourse  
various remarks about outfits
  47. **reverie xx** : anti-totem (The Outsider, The Abbey)
  48. **reverie xxi** : Oracular Protocol  
observations about TROD prologue
  49. **setup ix** : in the master's right hand (The Outsider, Daud, Zhukov, Galia)  
regarding the Black Mirror shard
  50. **reverie xxii** : cycle of seasons (The Outsider)  
he lived, he died, he lives again
  51. **catalogue** : idioms  
list of idioms found in various materials
  52. **setup x** : an early end (Daud, Delilah, Emily)  
what if Daud quit the dlcs
  53. **reverie xxiii** : Sokolov sucks  
[[response to justdishonoredthings](http://justdishonoredthings.tumblr.com/post/175465667092/editors-note-im-not-sure-if-burrows-was-the)]  
he's guilty of crimes against nature and humanity
  54. **reverie xxiv** : Vermin and the Void
  55. **reverie xxv** : itinerary for Rat Plague cure expedition (Corvo)
  56. **reverie xxvi** : who is the Knife of Dunwall (Daud, Whalers)
  57. **ficlet** : ominous lines collection
  58. **reverie xxvii** : trees and the Void
  59. **hc ii** : first sight (The Outsider, Daud)
  60. **setup xi** : prescience & conscience  
AU for spymaster!Billie
  61. **ficlet** : swindled of the world (Billie, Human!sider)  
post-DOTO conversation snapshot between Billie and Humansider
  62. **ficlet** : business and pleasure (Emily, Corvo, OC)  
[[inspired by azul-avarez](https://azul-alvarez.tumblr.com/post/177967358723/xaidread-azul-alvarez-what-if-daud-had-a)]



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TOC word count at 59 chapters: 700+


	2. catalogue: timeline (google doc)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made this timeline directory for personal use, but I hope it will be useful to other people. I don't guarantee that I'll update this version.

This timeline was assembled by reading through in-game lore documents available on the wiki, as well as events from Novel #2 (but I don't have a copy of Novel #1). Most entries have hyperlinks to the wiki's source document page. Chronology of events sometimes is not definitively determined because of writing conflicts (especially the problem of placing the months of Harvest and Seeds in DH1), so guesses are made about their priority. The format is bullet points under headers for decades (of the present century) and subheaders for some individual years.

Available as a web-published [google doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQilizsJ4Tfao7h1LsdCehOq0gTMJCQwXkbtXIQv5H7FuUUSEvh87EzvibxHiXAxuf_Df7xTxs23I3d/pub)


	3. minor AUs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a list of minor headcanon & au ideas

  * The Seven Scriptures were written more mellifluously, had better clausulae, and less clunky over all.
  * Ovsr Martin reads Roman literature: charming like Catullus, caustic like Juvenal, and with an outlook like Lucan
  * Whale Wars-ish crew of Daud, Billie, Outsie + some other ex-assassins doing their part to curb whale poaching  
{inspired by the Outsider assigned as Corvo's personal American government spy}
  * Daud's Whalers as oil workers in an offshore drilling operation
  * The DH1 Overseer outfit is the fall/wet season uniform, while uniform in DH2 is the summer cut. Oracular Sisters also have seasonal outfits depending on the climate of the nation they're based in.
  * the Eyeless gang caught Daud in the less-rundown public baths because he was trying to enjoy retirement with therapeutic baths augmented by the submariner bone charm
  * Emily sticks to addressing Corvo by his forename instead of calling him 'father'
  * shopping, the Outsider's way: swiping clothes off of shrines to keep up with fashion in the Isles
  * spymaster!Daud would wear something like the Templar Enforcer [outfit](http://assassinscreed.wikia.com/wiki/File:ACRG_Templar_Enforcer_outfit.png) from Assassin's Creed Rogue
  * When Daud returns the Outsider's name, the act reverses the attunement previously performed by the Outsider on his spirit's Void-within-Being  
{inspired by soul glitch special effects that may occur when Daud enters the animation for clasping the Outsider's shoulder}
  * The Outsider learns a lot of tricks about manipulating the Void from watching his Marked
  * The Outsider sends a company-wide memo notifying that Dr. A. Sokolov is indefinitely on the do-not-serve list for Void Tuning services. Meanwhile, he’s also signing a monetary gift to Dr. P. Joplin for research.
  * Granny steals the sense of adoration from people so she can hog all the love for the Outsider. She’s like, feeding her obsession by savoring all the ways people have worshiped her black-eyed groom  
{[inspired](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Cobbled_Bits_of_Bone) by Daud's journal:Cobbled Bits of Bone}
  * Daud’s Arcane Bond power is like ham radio and his followers tune into the right station as best they can. The Outsider dispenses radio licenses.
  * Daud gets to use zoom without a lens because his Void powerset includes telescopic vision
  * young Daud got kidnapped by a traveling circus  
{inspired by the circus coming into town in novel:Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon}
  * The Outsider’s sacrifice scar is a pair of puncture wounds, not a slice across his throat.
  * justified slide maneuver: really oiled trouser seats
  * Daud in his retirement learns Old Serkonan for a translation hobby.
  * Daud goes fishing, and he cheats with his tether ability  
{inspired by a dream wherein I was preparing to compose a display speech about marvelous horses} for a course in Ancient Greek
  * Humansider starts a fortune telling gig to support himself
  * Havelock told Wallace to move the attic room's mattress because it’s been soiled by Corvo’s swims in the filthy river and he’s not having any of that shit any more in the pub owned in his name.
  * Liam Byrne gets passed over when the Ascendancy Circle convenes to select the next High Overseer. Lots of people think the reason is because he came from Morley, even though he has been in the Abbey since childhood.
  * Dammit, Adam: let Karnaca have its people's council
  * Daud pulls an Altair and turns out to be a proficient draughtsman.  
{[inspired](http://vagabond-song.tumblr.com/post/116438294923/what-if-they-had-an-option-at-the-end-of-brigmore) by tumblr user vagabond-song scenario: Daud needs to come up with a replacement portrait}
  * Home is all of Serkonos. Daud can dialect-blend wherever he goes in the busy port cities of the south because an Actor doesn’t want to let off who he really is under the mask/makeup/whatever
  * The first day of a month starts around the time of a new moon
  * Devs spent more time decorating Delilah's part of the Void to reflect her character
  * Why isn’t Delilah more like an eldritch tree woman. Well, maybe she had more control over her form, handcrafted really, because she painted the tree into existence. But I don’t think the blue void environment makes for great studio light.
  * Echoes of memory through the Void cause Daud's dream of his Rudshore office to appear in part how it would've been before the floods
  * Outsie rubs at his own face and says something like "This would be an appropriate moment for me to say 'oh my god' but I’m the only one around. Still… oh my god, Daud, it’s all your fault"
  * The Outsider put his Mark on a non-human animal once. It had been held captive and used its powers to break free and go on a rampage
  * transmasculine!Daud really feels the brunt of menopause while held captive at Albarca because he's been dependent on Voidy HRT  
{inspired by a tumblr post + further chat with Julia}




	4. setup i: Pandyssian Penal Colony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> game setting idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the early history of Australia. I wanted to write a fic set in the 1830s or something for another fandom but I didn't get much past the research part.

The game starts where criminals are processed at an intake station on one of the outlying island chains. This includes health evaluations and assignment to different grades of labor. None of that “publicly sentenced to freedom” labor camp shit in the Tyvian manner: this is the heavy paw of Gristolite law. Of course it’s private investors who are (putting coin into) carving out and exploring beyond the coasts of Pandyssia for damned resources now that whaling’s been heavily regulated and the world’s been going sideways after the metaphysical fuckups that a disappeared Outsider ends up making.

The PC passes a season or whatever on the chain gang they’ve been allotted. But there are rewards for good behavior, or at least a change of pace. The off-shore investor has hired some surveyors to look for particular natural resources and areas of exploitation. There’s a need for hired muscle, or at least contracted muscle, and it happens that PC is qualified in that area in addition to being counted as reliable by the foreman.

The expedition has an agreed-over-but-unwritten clause to look for ancient artifacts on the continent because the old-style common charms gutter out their powers unreliable-like. Or something. Anyway, it’s an opportunity to be in a party with semi-competent adventurer-archaeologist/philosopher types.

Addendum in response to tumblr user princeofmorley [re:the Doom of Pandyssia](http://princeofmorley.tumblr.com/post/171188458500/so-i-always-kind-of-assumed-that-pandyssia-was)

I don’t follow Marvel, but I want somewhere analogous to Wakanda in Pandyssia: a concealed contemporary civilization that’s way advanced and sustainable to boot.

Additional addendum: Where did Callista Curnow go? She washed up on the Pandyssian coast (don't they have red cliffs or something), proceeds to discover and be sheltered at a hidden civilization


	5. setup ii: wearing splendidly white vestments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what the Outsider might wear to his first meeting with Daud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was reminded of this after engaging in a post thread about narrative content with [Jewish parallels](http://letempsdulilas.tumblr.com/post/176460426567/not-to-talk-about-dishonoreds-lore-again-but-1). The short of it is we considered that the components making up the Outsider's Mark could correspond with the letters in the Hebrew word Tob 'good/splendid', and I suggested some equivalent Greek & Latin names.

I’m pretty sure the Outsider wouldn’t be so vain after 4000 years of aberrant existence, but I wonder what he was wearing when he first met Daud. Like, how much stock could he put into appearances & first impressions? Well, DH1 shrines and dreamscape special fx certainly have their unique +mood&atmosphere.

Also, damn those lying trailers.

But what would appeal to Daud’s thirst for power and control/self-determination over his young life? Uniforms are +cool (even if his gang runs in stolen industrial coats & vapor masks), but the appeal of having direct access to Void powers is +specialness for the rarity and publicly condemned-ness.

Outsie’s character models seem to be inclined towards the sturdy garb of the common person. Though he’s not so weather-conscious with the dark long-sleeved coat in Karnaca (but I guess rule of cool DH2 Kaldwin dynasty calls for dark clothes–but grownup Emily in the DH1 epilogue wore white. Actually, TROD also is horrendous about sensible fashion–Daud wears a Tyvian cut coat on the journey to Serkonos. Also I’m not seeing Outsie’s DH2 outfit’s fancy-but-glass cufflinks that are marked on the cosplayer guide).

Daud’s DH1 log has a mention about once being an “optimistic young man.” To match that mindset, I think I’d like Outsie to appear in something simple but splendid. Something ἀγλαός, Ancient Greek for +shiny.

Splendid, clean & cold? How would Daud’s state of mind be reflected in the Void…

But I don’t want “deceptive appearances” like calling Outsie angelic or any shit. Just a bit more cleancut than his Plague-era Gristolite grunge. I mean, assassinating is dirty business, but Assassin’s Creed held up the white/red aesthetic for quite a while.

Addendum: Outsie calls Daud "friend" while in the void for the opening of KOD & Daud tells Corvo smth like "and I know the friend that talks to you in the dark at his shrines." Daud's 25 when he's marked and the Outsider looks like a young adult. It's appealing to have a friend, something of a peer. Shakes your hand, gives you free runes and other black magic shit.


	6. setup iii: precursor antiquities craze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pinning down when Daud started investigating the occult

His [journal](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Daud%27s_Log) in in DH1 reflects on “Eighteen years on this wretched rock, in this city of filth.” That’s c.1819 counting back from the then-current year of 1837.

According to the timeline (and this was maintained in some foreign language dubs), he first arrived at Dunwall at the age of 16 (1811). An overseer’s [field report](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Rumors_and_Sightings%3A_Daud) says that he’d been an active killer in Dunwall before disappearing, and then returned to commit supernatural assassination hijinks.

Referring back to the timeline, apparently ancient ruins under Dunwall were discovered in 1814. I want to imagine that’s around when Daud breaks off from whatever gang affiliation he had (the gang that recruited/kidnapped him as a boy?) and dives into the unknown; the search for shrines fills the years before he’s marked in 1820. He probably put together a decent collection of bonecharms and runes up until then.


	7. reverie i: environmental crisis in Serkonos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what biomes of Serkonos might have to offer and how humans ruin them

Somewheres on Serkonos are mangrove forests and those are cool. Let there be lots of mangroves and other “under-developed” coastal biomes because beach properties are overrated. Those things clog up precious sandbar land and cause erosion over time, not to mention people will whine about losing land when sand ends up moving elsewhere. Also, clogged up harbors in other places & no government funding to dredge them.

Bad times: mass deforestation and letting monster goats & sheep overgraze (actually, do those exist in the world? There’s concept art for monster horses, and maybe-wool clothes but I couldn’t tell by looking at the texture of a weave.)


	8. setup iv: Forrest Among Vines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Humansider steals Daud's vineyard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title refers to a Humansider naming headcanon elaborated in a two-part etymology exploration on the [Harmonicon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14577573/chapters/33879840).  
> Embedded [doodle](https://xaidreadoodle.tumblr.com/post/174123267292) from my doodle blog

The Outsider knows where Daud’s hidden caches of tangible wealth are and he won’t have to work as humansider. Lucky bastard. He buys a vineyard.

Is it really robbery if you steal a dead man's cache? It might as well be. On the papers, humansider signs his surname as Leister because of the transliteration for Greek [λῃστής/lēistḗs](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BB%E1%BF%83%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AE%CF%82) "robber".

While Vineyard AU for Daud usually goes like "fuck I don’t know any shit about grapes. We'll do this by trial and error", Humansider wouldn't find the theory beyond him. He might not even have to pay money to consult a botanist on what's the best grape strain for the land.

Honest labor inevitably transforms Humansider from a twink into a twunk.

Fortunetelling as a sidegig turns his career into: wining and wyrding, dealing with customers' whining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [faceapp](https://www.reddit.com/r/dishonored/comments/7ifhd1/i_put_the_outsiders_face_into_faceapp_the_result/?sort=old) provides a decent beard pattern headcanon for the Outsider


	9. reverie ii: furkusal in Morley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> archaeology is inspiring

Morley as the Scotireland of Dishonored has: cairns, beehive-shaped hermit dwellings, ruined brochs, dolmens, barrows, creepy hills, inscribed standing stones, graffiti’d runes that say "fuck yous all."

This last one was legit a reading thought up by the [survey manager](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/22/scientists-divided-whether-furkual-rock-inscription-genuinely/) who discovered this inscription at Eigg, but the reading was corrected by a [leading scholar](http://www.runforum.nordiska.uu.se/blog/runestone-found-in-the-inner-hebrides-of-scotland/).


	10. setup v: blood money

Daud saved his coin up and converted a lot of it into portable high-value goods to cache. I wonder how much it sickened him to be paid for the hit on Jessamine with issues of her profile, and then to be picking up coin 6 months later that were minted with Burrows' face.


	11. reverie iii: bull of heaven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> relevant Harvey tweet thread: [Dishonored mythos](http://billielurk.tumblr.com/post/85249527349/the-entire-mythos-conversation-many-thanks-to)  
> see also: the Bull of Heaven in [Sumerian myth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_of_Heaven), Taurus in [Mithraism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism), Hathor in [Ancient Egyptian myth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor), Boann in [Irish myth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boann), [bull-leaping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boann)

Word of Dev said that one of the prior Dishonored Void gods was a bull or something. Heck yeah: sky cattle myths, beef bone carvings, bull-leaping rites, festivals with bull wrestling, sacred music that toots cattle horns, flutes from cattle bones, leucistic honored heifers and holy cows. Shrines draped with dappled cowhide. Lots of corned beef for consumption. Folktales about people knifing each other over livestock rustling.

Headcanon: The bull of heaven got eaten. Yeah, eaten. That’s why he’s not there anymore.

Addendum: There’s a reason why bonecharm:blood ox heart increases maximum mana.


	12. reverie iv: true names transcend worlds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [response](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/174322661714) to Julia re:etymology recognition

How are Biblical names supposed to be valued? There’s no equivalent YHWH or anything.

I’d be willing to believe that Cienfuegos has an awareness as a student of the occult. His Void dreams could show him about his inner nature and its relevance in name magic or whatever.


	13. setup vi: river krusts below hound pits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [response](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/174485191664) to tumblr user persephinae re: expired imported poison

The traitorous Loyalist Conspiracy should've sourced their poison locally by distilling it from river krust acid. Using Dark Vision reveals a respawning river krust in the sewers (that disappears on the day before heading to the Estates District for the Boyle part). This method would also incriminate Piero because he probably has supplies for the job. They could collect it in an empty oil tank from Piero's workshop.


	14. hc i: watery bonecharms and characterization

Bonecharms: water of life + spirit water = aggressively chugging a glass from the tap

I managed to get both of them just in time for mission:The Loyalists, which meant diving into the bar and its three tap activators for shelter between baiting stilt-walkers.

Actually, I imagine that Corvo chugs in basegame Dishonored, but when I play Daudhonored dlcs I think of it as washing the blood from his hands/gloves/wounds

Daud finds the submariner bonecharm and can relax in a bath for health regen. Corvo or Em find submerged rage and get tense underwater for combat adrenaline. Leviathan's Mind absolutely sucks compared to submariner though. Who even bothers to pair it with strong lungs?

Honestly, Daud's diving thing has potential to relate back to his mother. According to [book:Cobbled Bits of Bone](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Cobbled_Bits_of_Bone), used to harvest poisons from reef fish and the like.

Anyway, the feels from imagining that DM taught her kiddo diving practices. And I guess I want to make a big deal out of the time when Daud ate pearls from evil mollusks because Granny Rags wrote the [recipe](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Page_From_an_Old_Book).

Daud and water, Daud in fire. Born in month of Ice, dead by… month of Darkness? My only calendar reference for that stage of DOTO comes from [book:Cultist’s Diary](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Cultist's_Diary)


	15. Noctuary I: Casino

Had a dream sequence wherein I was a dice dealer and the annoying bastard I was playing made the die bounce over to another table. I saw where the face landed, but it was by the Outsider. He tossed it back over and the customer wanted to contest the bet or something. A little later he wanted to play five dice and they landed on blanks. I asked Outsie what he ought to get: "Nothing."


	16. Noctuary II: Errands for the Mob

I had to eliminate four assassins in Whiterun before a crime boss in the underground would open a dialogue tree with me. Then later I visited someone’s art studio and they had concepts for the Overseer sabre but no nif meshes for downloading. In another dream sequence I visited a Catholic church with a resident cat named Martin.


	17. Noctuary III: Ovsr Martins Sr and Jr cameos

My dream this morning had something about a Osr. Martin Sr & Jr, and later there was situation in a DAI-TES5 setting where my player character didn’t have enough Speech to tame a borzoi that accompanied a vampire attack. Also the PC was wearing this Ebonsteel Dragonbonemold retexture I just DL’d last night.


	18. Noctuary IV: Rail Operator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been excited for ages about the light rail coming to my town after I read that they used to be common before automobiles were mass-produced

Had a dream wherein the Outsider operated a light rail line. Something like $1.25 for a ticket, but $0.50 for riders who get linked to one of the teleport gateways. Daud (who reserved four seats in a row, which were upholstered in red) and Corvo were there too. There was also a Void Tunnel rapid transport option, but had to be traversed on foot. At least there was the courtesy of a solid, though very psychedelic map.

Geography was way off because the map looked upside down and supposedly we were in the coast.

Addendum: rapid transport = Realm of Darkness fast travel method used in Kingdom Hearts.


	19. Noctuary V: debating metaphysics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet this is a common scenario within the Eyeless Cult cloistered in Mt Shindaerey

I took a nap and had a dream wherein I debated the metaphysics of the Void with two sketchbook artist types before I woke up.


	20. Noctuary VI: crossover

Had dreams of collecting Dishonored runes, brothers of a sheeplike precursor race, trucker journeys

edit: by Hek, there was a wartime fanfic (parts of it were in text and a lot of it was vividly imagined) with relationship: Farley Havelock & Star War's Rey. Also, retirement canning for charity.


	21. Noctuary VII: rising waters

I took a nap and the dream was really trippy near the end with rising&falling water levels at an abandoned house that was sort of in the Flooded District and somewhere in Ireland according to the map. As Corvo I found Daud in the sewers and I tried to get him to sit in a chair that could bear his weight & wasn’t rotted to breaking by water exposure. There was a fractured cutscene once that was accomplished but Daud seemed to be teleporting around the drained-again house while talking in his sleep.


	22. Noctuary VIII: Billie Inks

The last part of my dream ended with Billie Lurk considering a kickass logo for her tattoo parlor. One of the ideas was a calligraphic L, almost like tribal or fire style or smth


	23. Noctuary IX: Accidental Apotheosis of Lizzy Stride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Daud promises to deliver Dunwall to Emily within a dozen days and creates a crisis of cosmic proportions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: violent dream imagery

Woah/woe boy, I ended up having an anxiety dream about post-DH1 eldritch canon-divergence shit, and it starts with setting up Spymaster!Daud. “Give me about a dozen days and I’ll deliver Dunwall to you on a gilded plate with all the bells and whistles.”

The format of this was text-adventurish except the cutscenes started getting more elaborate as the actions became more brutal. I rather liked this Favors section where additional actions could be purchased and expanded upon from previous choices. In the beginning it seems tame, like more avenues of investigation, a leveling system for organization recruits (including the Whalers), people to bribe and things.

Actions that made things a little darker included applying non-lethal takedowns that would end up pissing off people after a few days. Well, I don’t know why but this happened in a briefing meeting with Emily. I had to rewind/replay up to this section and found out that reaching Daud’s 12 days without saving gave an achievement.

One action he could do: turn Lizzy Stride in. I had seen a couple of posts about it while browsing #Brigmore Witches–but I’m pretty sure Daud’s bounty ledger recorded some other Elizabeth bc Lizzy’s bounty poster says she’s worth 5000 coin, which is more than Slackjaw.

Anyway, I don’t know the rationale for this part of the dream!game but it dove dark pretty fast. There’s an option about choosing a method of torture and I guess one of these was kicking and beating with cudgels. But Lizzy turns out to have a bonecharm that gives her shark-like teeth–her filed teeth aren’t just for intimidation but she’s got rows and rows for new sets to fill her jaws. Worse and worse, some mythic shit about how she could get stabbed with a Void-significant stake (maybe grown from Delilah’s tree?) and I guess there’s some stuff about the potential for merging Lizzy with the Void + she becomes the next divine resident.

There’s some more choices to attempt reversing the ritual but honestly my playthrough got so fucked. This is what happens when I nap after video games, I guess.

Addendum: By Hek, Lizzy Stride as the DH Void god is an amazing idea. Void-significant animals include sharks, moray eels, and crocodilians or smth.

Her associated constellation: the Captain at the Helm


	24. Noctuary X: shapeshifters

How did my dream cycle go from following a family that adopts a gold-black-red shapeshifting sheep-boy with a degenerative disease of the muscles to an egg-laying shapehsifting crow-man Corvo Attano?

Sheepboy’s story was preceded by a story about a boy whose special interest is bridges. And before that, there was a cosmic bureaucrat whose job was assigning people to Hell.

Before that, there was a weird adventure thing on repeat about Corvo getting stomped on in a war between giant gargoyles vs giant robots. There were some other things happening too, but I’ve already forgotten the details. At one point he gets swallowed by a giant robot vaguely shaped like a boar.

Somewhere between these sequences, my family had house visitors and there was something about planting tree seeds in a nursery. Plus entertaining the smaller kiddiwinks by making hard candies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still wish I could've taken care of my sheep son


	25. Noctuary XI: Delilah in the Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No atheists in foxholes or sleep paralysis nightmares

I'm trying to get some sleep but my head got into an anxiety dream. I woke up, turned over, fell into another one wherein I looted a Delilah painting (Dunwall period: reds, purples, dark blues) and started hearing her screaming something over the howling winds of the Void. I wanted to break out of the pressure of sleep paralysis so I tried thinking about the Outsider--No dice there. Started invoking the strictures. Woke up after naming the Lying Tongue.


	26. Noctuary XII: archaeology class presentation

I had a dream about giving a presentation for a class on public archaeology, but it was a very poor delivery. My visual looked to be an old school HTML web page, but I don't remember composing the thing and reading from the text was a very poor choice. A fuckton of redundant evens for some reason. It also felt like I had looked into the material months ago. Something about a religious guy in the 1800s tackling the 'wild pagan' Irish hillfolk. After that section, I switched gears and started talking about the Outsider & the Void. Then there was something about animal plushies. I brought a cardboard box that had six of them.

Also cringe: there were people who still thought "dinosaurs????" in the audience. Sure, I had critters in my dream's project, but they were: bunny, ducky, piggy, and 3 other somethings


	27. Noctuary XIII: Monster Hunter Daud

I had a doze earlier and for the last part of the dream I was Daud doing some monster hunting. There was a blue&black 'salamander' making a nuisance of itself at a public garden or something and it was pretty big. My mana was out and my equipment looked to be only a knife and corrupted bonecharm:statuesque. Some of the fight happened in a 3rd person POV but seeing the charm in action wasn't so exciting because the special effect was more like Daud vanishing rather than looking like a convincing part of the scenery until he moved.

Whenever I cut body parts off the salamander, it'd shrink a bit to reform the limb. I got it to the point where it looked like a skinny noodle. At that point I pulled out a roll of duct tape from my pouch and did a messy job binding up the critter. Should've bagged it too, since it ended up biting my unshod foot while I was back at my campsite. The helpful hint on screen or smth told me not to worry about venom, but the beastie had teeth like a ratsnake.


	28. setup vii: a long day in Draper's Ward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What would Lizzy Stride do?

The novels' canon trajectory of Daud's actions seems to create a tendency for Extra actions. In TCM, a chapter heading document confirms that he assisted Abigail Ames' labor strike by blowing up Rothwild's slaughterhouse. In TROD, he blows up a mansion.

But what about how he handled Drapers Ward: an alliance between the Hatters and the Dead Eels, or killing Nurse Trimble & Mr Hat? Factory sabotage is pretty extra, getting the mill running again is extra. Is it enough reason for his Whalers to doubt him as an aging mercenary going extra?

But I like to imagine that Lizzy Stride makes good on using the Hatter turf password and gives the Geezer that mercy kill herself. Leave it to Lizzy, eh: dealing with Wakefield, shutting down the Trimble-era Hatters. She should get all those resolutions and her choices matter. (I kind of hope there aren’t any word of dev tweets from Harvey Smith about how she ended up in the intercanon between games.) Wonder if she distributed body bags for folks outside of government allotment after taking over the textile mill territory? It’s a high demand product right there, and I recall reading a journal about how someone had to sneak her dead kid into one or something [book:Mother’s Journal]. Shame that the Dead Counters dump the dead willynilly though.

And I guess TCM has it canon that Bottle Street Gang stays in the Distillery, so Outsie’s warning over gang wars in Dunwall doesn’t really come to fruition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lizzy is so badass. Check out this fanart piece where Daud holds onto his flower because Lizzy's got his back [[link]](http://nekokat42.tumblr.com/post/140090613072/they-said-smth-about-his-whaler-kids-%CA%98%CA%98-they)


	29. reverie v: horse discourse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where are the horses? Speculations about the livestock industry, Morley's horses, minor points of comparison with Ireland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [response](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/175000954254) to tumblr user brofligate's musings

If Arkane makes more Dishonored with a forward timeskip, I could expect the inclusion of real deal horse assets & more alternate energy resources because the whale oil industry’s been on the decline from depopulation.

I guess that outside of urban areas, people are still using animal labor for transportation. One of the Dunwall streets is called Bloodox Way, which indicates it had been the venue for driving livestock into town in its history. In-city rail lines speed up the transport of goods, so there’s no need to bring the things right into town and they’re butchered a ways off. I can’t say how far the rails extend, but The Return of Daud has an unusual case where a rich guy installed a personal line between his imported manor and a fishing town. (I’m pretty sure there were no mentions of horses in TROD because of Daud’s myopic point of view even though there’s a bit itinerary through rural areas.)

It takes a while to grow horses too, and I have to wonder if there’s been a horse shortage in the post-Morley Insurrection years. Dunno how the war was conducted in Morley territory, but there might be social parallels with Irish agrarianism + [[English enclosure]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclosure) \+ the Levellers movement (something like [[na Buachaillí Bána/the Whiteboys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteboys)]) that contributed to a national rising. Part of quelling resistance includes destroying the means of livelihood with scorched earth tactics. Maybe the Empire conscripted a lot of Morley’s horses during the war and then declared them redundant once Morley was properly pacified. Wonder if there’ve been humane societies in the aftermath with sentiments like "cavalry horses are also veterans", agitating for a common burial plot or retirement to decent estate grounds, and repurposing them for work instead of sending them to meatpacking & glue factories.

story idea: a boy & his horse during the Morley Insurrection, like novel:War Horse by Michael Morpurgo but with more canon-typical violence beyond the level appropriate for conventional young adult novel awards.

Addendum: I'd think for a while that labor animals in Morley were in short supply (and really difficult to keep fed in health) right after the Insurrection bc the Empire killed & confiscated a lot of livestock.

Luke Kelly's performance of the Gaol Song is a banger [[youtube](https://youtu.be/AjNJFPLJKoI)]

So I like to think that "Morley miller" could be slang for people who've been to prison bc what if they used the treadmill as corporal punishment while wringing out physical labor. Like, before the oil boom. There's a book excerpt at Daud's visit to Coldridge on prison systems throughout the Isles [[book:Prisons of the Isles](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Prisons_of_the_Isles)]

> Later installments in this series will cover...the coastal island jails of Morley, surrounded by bitterly cold waters that are filled with ravenous hagfish.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a really long time to finish reading Thomas Flanagan's novel The Year of the French [[goodreads]](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/651858.The_Year_of_the_French)


	30. reverie vi: Flooded District shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Various applications of Daud's power set

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by Bottle Street Boys gossiping about Daud during [mission:High Overseer Campbell](http://dishonoredaudio.tumblr.com/post/130283471743/word-is-hes-like-a-phantom-with-an-army-of)

He can slit a throat from across the room. If he wanted to, he could chop vegetables while sitting at the kitchen table too.

[JDT](http://justdishonoredthings.tumblr.com/post/175069306340/jdt-criticising-the-state-of-disrepair-of-dauds) re: the Whaler base is in an awful state

Why don’t they use their Pull power to dump rubble into the river or something? Wonder what’s a typical telekinetic lift strength. Enough to pull people, for sure. But more than that–?

[JDT](http://justdishonoredthings.tumblr.com/post/175084042948/corvo-peering-at-the-hole-in-the-roof-you-live) re: Daud purposefully doesn't improve living conditions

The most appealing thing about Rudshore Chamber of Commerce Building is living in a gutted finance office with an access point to Dunwall’s sewer system. It has lots of sturdy lock boxes to hold cash and things, too. The water level around the COC looks to have risen between mission:The Surge & mission:The Flooded District/After the Flood; maybe the Whalers intentionally broke down more levees to close access to the base and keep out Weepers.

They COULD meet their energy needs by tapping oil from the GLO refinery, but the office is so dim. They must use Void Gaze a lot to move around the houses or something. And I guess it doesn’t matter how disgusting the tapwater has gotten for the people who’ve received Daud’s enhanced bodily constitution.

So strategic. Much defensible. Very gross.

Daud's unstrapped boot (DOTO outfit) [chatlog]

Xaidread: old man Daud can't be arsed to strap his boots all the way. Is there ever a way to tie your shoes or strap your boots in an intimidating badass way? Like, if he had to kneel down before the start of a fight club match. (Though I guess stop time would help with showing no weakness)  
[9:13 AM] admin daud: he could put his foot up somewhere and tie them with swift, angry fingers. maybe add a frown. that could work.  
[9:14 AM] big scream: Up someone's ass  
Daud's only weakness, unstrapped shoes  
He goes for a kill and trips over his own feet bc he wanted to be cool  
[9:16 AM] Xaidread: Perils of jumping and other mobility actions. He should stick to getting around with Blink  
Blink and Pull = laziest man ever powers  
[9:17 AM] big scream: So that's why they're my favourite...  
[9:17 AM] Xaidread: Use Void telekinesis to open the ice box for a beer  
[9:17 AM] big scream: Switch channels on TV  
[9:17 AM] Xaidread: Need to piss? Blink to the toilet  
[9:18 AM] big scream: Modern au daud just. Sitting on his couch, watching wwe  
[9:18 AM] Xaidread: I think he might like watching livestock sports. Horses and cattle.  
[9:19 AM] big scream: And his favourite soap opera, the young prince of tyvia  
[9:20 AM] Xaidread: I remember reading on the reddit where someone said he felt fat playing as Daud. I'm gonna make a quick screenshot comparing his calves to the other whalers  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chat partners: [shakapunk](http://shakapunk.tumblr.com/), [krarka](http://krarka.tumblr.com/)


	31. reverie vii: practical villain elimination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [response](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/175099641484) to tumblr user princessstabbity

Emily, in the Void: But how did she get here in the first place? [tableaux reveal of Delilah getting sucked into the tree painting while Daud stands back holding the canvas of Emily’s portrait]

Outsider: You see, Delilah was trying to embody you through her magic. I knew what she was up to, and I gave Daud what might have been his last hit. But he couldn’t even finish the job properly. I’ve got to hand it to him though; because of him, you’ve lost a throne twice in a lifetime. Will you be alive in the end to claim the title of Twice-Crowned? I’ve seen it play out in history that a [certain general](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Marius) held his land’s highest office seven times when most men like him couldn’t even hope to be voted into a single term–even when they were picking two for the position. Anyway, [exposition here where he recreates his ritual sacrifice scene]

Emily, in Death to the Empress: I probably shouldn’t leave her inside a painting like the last time. *kills Delilah*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [mariussuggestions](https://mariussuggestions.tumblr.com/) is an amazing blog even if the historical guy died a krusty angry old fuck


	32. setup viii: she doesn't smile for just anyone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daud disposes of Delilah's portraits instead of letting them hang around in the Void

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The return of Delilah's Dunwall period paintings in DH2 was a lazy as fuck narrative decision and really creepy too. The player character had no commentary for those, but cashed them anyway. Emily sells not just Billie's face but her own little girl face.  
> Alternate title: burn the world tree and scatter its ashes over a regretter’s plot

Daud leaves Brigmore with Emily’s portrait rolled up and stashed in his bag. After being spared by Corvo, Daud burns his murder bulletin board. But the painting and the hit plans for Dunwall Tower + target sketch of Jessamine with a huge X over her face are all burned in a whale oil bonfire as close as possible to the base of the Jessamine statue at Rudshore commerce. Then he infiltrates Dunwall Tower once more to leave Brigmore witch flowers and his sword at the Empress’ grave marker in the gazebo, or something like that.

I’m pretty sure I read in a fic that parts of Dunwall Tower were open to the public before the plague. But like, you can’t let a murderer worth 30,000 coin walk in.


	33. reverie viii: appearance inventory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sounds so judgmental that I have to cringe, but character designs are worth talking about.

DH1 Daud face inventory

  * scar over right side of face (starts above eyebrow and descends towards neck)
  * setacenous spots in hollow near right eye
  * abrasion on inner edge of left eyebrow
  * pits outside of left eye
  * scar over left eyebrow
  * Lump over chin



DOTO Daud's list of moles

  * one over his right eye scar
  * one on bridge of nose, towards right
  * one near tip of nose, towards left
  * under his left eye (outside)



Remarks on the Outsider

I kinda like the young adult spottiness on this one better than DH2's--has more natural imperfections even though they're not normally seen because of the various shrine lightings. But they're there. DH2 is kinda freckly but bloodless.

re:DH1 face: gasp, he has a scar on his chin

[re:DH2 outfit](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/175369754254)

Honestly, I don’t like the DH2/DOTO look as much because there aren’t as many interesting details on the texture. I downloaded models for XNALara and I caught these only by zooming in a lot: there’s a rip over his right knee, his trousers have ass pockets, and there’s three freckles over his fourth and fifth metacarpals. There’s more to look at in DH1 while he just stands to talk (even if he doesn’t show his back).


	34. reverie ix: Burrows is bad news

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [response](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/175555094064) to JDT: Lord Regent Hiram Burrows is responsible for every bad thing that has happened in the entire series

In Novel #1 The Corroded Man, Burrows’ spy network recruited Zhukov to root out corruption in Tyvia. Upon becoming the Lord Regent, Burrows then exposed Zhukov. Zhukov discovered the Twin-Bladed Knife in prison camp. After the events in Novels #1 and #2, the Knife falls into the hands of the Eyeless. Daud also is hunting for the Knife and ends up captured by the Eyeless as well and made a pit fighter. Then we get the events of DOTO.

Conclusion: Burrows is bad news


	35. reverie x: math and magical thinking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated with additional discoveries that emerged while discussing narrative elements with [Lila](http://letempsdulilas.tumblr.com/post/176460426567/not-to-talk-about-dishonoreds-lore-again-but-1)

A list of numbers (note to self update links)

  * Dr Galvani’s favorite lock combo is 287; his first meeting with Dr Anton Sokolov happened on the 28th day of High Cold
  * 451 is a recurring lock combo (But on one of my playthroughs at the ducal palace, the guards’ safe code generated 777).
  * In the Outsider’s sacrificial ritual tableaux, I counted 24 participants (22 people in the audience, the knife-wielder, and Outsie).
  * Overseer Sturgess at the lobby of the Office of the High Overseer gives a sermon on the Five Attributes of the Outsider, wherein:  
“He is various, for there are  **seven** gates by which he may enter a man’s heart, and  **seventy**  kinds of spirits which live on and beneath the earth, and the arts and tricks of black magic are without number.”
  * 14*5=70  
Daud/David is valued as 14 in Hebrew letters (דוד)
  * According to Malchiodi’s numbering system for the symbols in the language of the dead, the components of the Outsider’s Mark (his name) are 9 6 2.  
The sum is 17. 17 is the 7th prime number.
  * [High Overseer Steven Gainsford](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fdishonored.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FNotable_Clergy%23High_Overseer_Steven_Gainsford&t=MTEzMzNkMzQxOWQxZGRlZDAyMGQwZTMyMmY4MDBjOWZhZWM3ZWZiYiwxNktPMGNYTw%3D%3D&b=t%3AJi2zVezlX7xNZ8NME5smhw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fxaidread.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F175927953624&m=1)’s discordant scale uses 17 notes (at least, I assume text:[The Ancient Music](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fdishonored.wikia.com%2Fwiki%2FThe_Ancient_Music&t=YjIzODM1ZWNlYjkzOWZkYWMzMWY4ZTU4NzdkM2I0MTY3ZTA0OWVkNSwxNktPMGNYTw%3D%3D&b=t%3AJi2zVezlX7xNZ8NME5smhw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fxaidread.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F175927953624&m=1) was written by Gainsford). “Throughout my studies I have found a 17 note scale derived from this phenomenon”



The principle of [gematria](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FGematria&t=OTRkMzVmMGI5NzcxMWNlMzU0MzZjYmViNzZjYjJjMzI3NzlkM2I1MCwxNktPMGNYTw%3D%3D&b=t%3AJi2zVezlX7xNZ8NME5smhw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fxaidread.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F175927953624&m=1) observes significance in words that share a sum of their letter-number values.

No doubt there are wisdom&magic people who like to interpret stuff through these kinds of associations. All I can say is that the method is interesting as an avenue for exploring possible meanings in the game world.

This gematria dictionary [[link to intro](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.billheidrick.com%2Fworks%2Fhgm1%2Fhgintro.htm&t=MzkxZjM2NDljNWZiNTY5NDEwY2I1MTUyNGRkNDcwYWJlODMzMmYxZiwxNktPMGNYTw%3D%3D&b=t%3AJi2zVezlX7xNZ8NME5smhw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fxaidread.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F175927953624&m=1)] is a supplement to the Hebrew word value associations (from numbers 1 to 3321) that were indexed in the [Sepher Sephiroth](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F777_and_Other_Qabalistic_Writings_of_Aleister_Crowley%23Sepher_Sephiroth&t=ZjE0NWJiZmQ0MmMzNTU3MDVmNjk0NjkyNmE0Yjk2MzdiMGYyYmMyNywxNktPMGNYTw%3D%3D&b=t%3AJi2zVezlX7xNZ8NME5smhw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fxaidread.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F175927953624&m=1) (Book of Emanations) by Allan Bennett and Aleister Crowley.

under 17, there’s the root: זבח ([zabach](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fbiblehub.com%2Fhebrew%2F2076.htm&t=YTQ0NzRmMGUzYmY2ZWQzOGI5NzU2YjA2MTFiNzA0ZGExMWNjZjAwNCwxNktPMGNYTw%3D%3D&b=t%3AJi2zVezlX7xNZ8NME5smhw&p=https%3A%2F%2Fxaidread.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F175927953624&m=1)) —    to slaughter, kill (animals for food or sacrifice for a private reason); slaughtering; meal, repast; a sacrificing; a sacrifice

 


	36. reverie xi: separation anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [response](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/175934668529) to a2gn re:shrieking Void in the Ritual Hold

Wonder if this scream is something like a howl of both loss and triumph for the removal of the Outsider & dissolution of boundaries between magic and the mundane world. The balance becomes overturned; the Void will gnaw & tear at reality more than it has been since Delilah’s return ritual ripped holes in the world. Its prior configuration will lose definition as “where the Outsider resides.”

Also an idea: did the Void as a cognitive realm feel wounded in sympathy with the Outsider, resulting in the sensation of being in it, as Daud had described, similar to an unanswered cry for help? Could the sound be the sympathetic relief of release from the Outsider’s pain?


	37. ficlet: monument to his shame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Above the urban swamp, the weather-worn face of a dead Empress hardly rises over her ruined domain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [inspired](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/176055026949) by adrift's aesthetic post

A decade of diverted funds reshaped the financial district into an urban swamp when the Wrenhaven burst through the [levees](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/The_Flooded_District_\(book\)). Clusters of river krust infest the streets and paint bricks and cobblestone with green acid and dissolved flesh. Many had hoped to turn a quick [fortune](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Martha%27s_Journal) out of Rudshore’s ruined [riches](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rudshore_Chamber_of_Commerce).

There is no [gain](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Sewer_Capacity_in_the_Month_of_Nets) in the Month of Nets. A different hunger has taken to the streets when the tide washed in. No longer do accountants amble on the pavement as they ponder how to suck blood out of the populace. Here, hagfish schools strip [flesh](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Hagfish_Warning) from bone off of anyone who slips into the surface of rubbish-strewn water.

Killers live above the [weepers and wild hounds](http://dishonoredaudio.tumblr.com/post/130283471743/word-is-hes-like-a-phantom-with-an-army-of) in buildings open to bitter sky. Even through industrial filters, they breathe crematory smoke and know in their lungs what their leader has done to Dunwall. The [colossus](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Letter_to_the_Director) of a dead Empress is stationed outside the narrow wedge of their headquarters. She held the world in her hand before disrepair struck one arm into the ground. While she looks ever onward, those on rooftop patrol prefer to avert their gaze with secondhand guilt. On their tongues, it tastes like the ashes of shrouded bodies burning in [Bitterleaf furnaces](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Businesses#Bitterleaf_Crematorium_and_Fluid_Works). Continued [contracts](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Letter_to_Daud) from the Lord Regent assure them it was worth it: how exclusive they’ve become is simply amazing in only six months spent on purging the undesirables.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this took maybe half an hour to tap out from mobile. I hope readers appreciate the hyperlinks to show the places I had in mind.


	38. ficlet: invisible hands at fortune's wheel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [inspired](http://k1spiegel.tumblr.com/post/176467270232/xaidread-k1spiegel-the-wheel-is-turning-now) by brad's artwork of Wallace with a steering wheel

Woe upon Wallace: never steering on his own even though he serves as Treavor’s rudder. He keeps his master going and is subject to a will as capricious as wind, though that is timid too. The wheel is out of his hands, both their hands, when they embark on a venture so much greater than themselves. The machine of Empire forges ever onward while bodies of its fleet’s rowers break against rocks and wash up shattered upon shores. There are always more rowers to expend even while great ships slip through the waves on steam-powered engines. Above all, it is an Empire whose core stole strength from the Ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Composing this took about 10 minutes, or at least my spotify discover playlist got through Antimatter - Killer and Agalloch - The Lodge. Those were decent songs but a lot of the algorithm's picks were shit.  
> I decided to collect my content into one spot after I posted this on tumblr.


	39. reverie xii: threefold death

The threefold death thing is pretty cool mythic shit. But I feel adverse to AU-applying it to the ritual that made the Outsider–it’s so excessive when there’s the Knife of metaphysical surgery. So that AU has to make away with the Knife. And then where does that lead? No Knife, no terminal curse on Daud. So he ends up getting a threefold death/treatment to his remains?

I guess the Viking-style burial at sea counts for two “deaths”, but ofc he can’t go out the way of DOTO trajectory without the Knife. Might just end this story with HC!BW.

Fate in Dishonored is great. The empire fractures, a void god era ends, Daud dies and goes out in a pyre.

Addendum: I like the idea that there are inevitable knots across the realities. The experiment of a united isles empire collapses, the Void rises up to gnaw at the world & recall/collect Itself, strife once more in subdued Morley, Daud can't be saved by Billie's time traveling because the first jump crystalized in her experience.

Summary of the Veil of Terror: Billie cuts the Gordian Knot


	40. reverie xiii: cursed Daud

What does it mean for Daud to get cursed in TROD? He says in DOTO that he’s losing his connection to the Void. The Knife did something to him, but it’s not the same metaphysical surgery that was done on Outsie. It’s like…getting poked with a dirty needle.

Returning Outsie’s name ‘undid’ the Void merge. So there’s Void magic that does stuff to the un/named. Not all of Outsie’s influence is retroactively taken away because Emily retains the Mark.

Passive effects of Void magic may include augmented vitality and stuff. Maybe it’s like, the Knife of the future timeline corrupts Daud’s Mark and brings him closer to how he would’ve been without it. Evidently, that’s dead. His fight scenes in TROD remark a lot on how he’s still got it, and he’s still a damn good fighter for the Eyeless betting ring.


	41. reverie xiv: I want reality to burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title inspired by a line from the svenska cover of I'm Still Here: _För jag vill att verkligheten bränns_

post-DOTO Human!sider theoretically knows how to do a lot of shit because he’s basically seen it all from the Void. He knows, he has tasted through a soup of memories, and now he’s got the capacity to want. But that last part scares him because he’s seen what people do to reach their desires.

Being is too bright, too real, and in some ways not enough because he’s stuck in his own head. No escapism allowed.


	42. reverie xv: consequences of void rifts

DH Novel #3 void rifts probably are gonna fuck up people who get into them. It’ll be a global magical disaster. Body horror stuff like briars growing over skin, turning into stone abominations, disintegrating into swarms (but the uninitiated probably aren’t gonna reform perfectly whole). The dead rising like gravehounds. And ofc people go mad from exposure to void spirits that keep turning over memories like regret-carts on well-worn ruts.

But anyway, yay for magic.


	43. reverie xvi: devotional music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still not satisfied with composition in the religious literature

I’m looking at a lyrics music video of (screaming) devotional rock and I’m thinking: if anyone makes something like this for the Seven Strictures, I hope they don’t get shit for blasphemy because fuck the tempo in recitals. Who wrote these books? Who owns that aesthetic? People would remember the Strictures if they had better rhythm, anything appealing.

Some folks are like, oh the KJV, such masterful poetry, etc. Well I guess the translators were aesthetically good because they had ears for figurative language. But never let the original NT writers off the hook because they wrote in the vernacular and not stylish Atticized Greek.


	44. reverie xvii: documenting the supernatural with antiquarian anthropology

I really want to know who are the [70 earthbound spirits](http://dishonoredaudio.tumblr.com/post/119620831187/for-the-outsider-himself-has-these-five) in the Abbey’s cosmology. Maybe they’re twisted remnants of ancestral worship that mostly got stamped out by the Abbey’s anti-theism. They probably still have cultural presence, like the [Serkonan Legends](https://www.behance.net/gallery/50348625/Serkonan-Legends). C'mon, I want more antiquarian anthropology lore.

What grade of spirit is the [Rosewater Hag](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Rhyme_of_the_Rosewater_Hag)? Something twisted by its wretchedness, finds the cracks in the world and synergizes with anomalies to unusual effect


	45. reverie xviii: The Outsider's skills

Really, the Outsider is theoretically competent at everything because he’s been watching for opportunities to get out of the Void and have the skills to survive. Well, survival is way too optimistic for the route he thinks has been set for Billie and Daud. But maybe in the earlier years he thought the ritual could be undone “some time soon.” Not that soon really mattered.

But I did post something about wondering if he picks up tricks from his Marked. He might know a lot of stuff but I don’t know how creative he’d get. Is there creativity when he can see the end results of multiple actions? When it’s just himself to view something, there is no point in doing. And does he retain a sense of clairvoyance as Humansider? Well I’d like to think it was one of his qualifications for Void representative. I imagine clairvoyance relies on tapping into the unconscious, a way to predict how people might react in hypothetical situations. I’ve seen somewhere that Outsie doesn’t have perfect vision even though he makes it sound like he does. Or it’s just his bias of probabilities.

My kind of creativity: When I doodle, my method is to let lines wander and build them up until I feel a form coming into shape. I got a lot of those from practicing antidexterity.


	46. reverie xix: fashion of the isles discourse

[modern snap fasteners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_fastener) (also known as ball and socket clasps or press studs) were patented in the late 19th century. How would that line up for the historical trajectory in Dishonored? Anyway, I just think the number of conventional buttons on the Whalers’ exposed white shirt component of the uniform was ridiculous.

I guess I grant the inevitable permission for people to imagine their otps ripping clothes off without worrying about losing buttons in the process.

* * *

 [Discord talk] But does "bodice ripper" exist as a genre within the world? I say yes, and body shapers are for everyone.

* * *

Daud is the kind of guy who would wear cargo trousers. The isles won't have velcro fasteners without plastic, though.

* * *

The High Overseer outfit in DH1 has a red stripe on the outside of the trousers. Servant-type women also have a red stripe on their black trousers. Hmm

* * *

 Granny Rags and Daud’s whalers wear belts the same way.

* * *

The Whalers' trouser material is [corduroy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corduroy) with a low wale-count, which makes their trews appear stripey.

 


	47. reverie xx: anti-totem

The Abbey of the Everyman, acronymized: TAOTEM

Outsie obviously is the anti-totem in their cosmology


	48. reverie xxi: Oracular Protocol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is really excerpt-heavy, so I'd prefer to just link to [my tumblr post](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/174156430959)

The prologue in TROD provides some information about how the prophecy ritual is meant to work.

  1. Exposition
  2. Method & Technique
  3. Risks
  4. aberrant prophecy session
  5. side effects include hemorrhaging



An animated short based on this session would've been cool.


	49. setup ix: in the master's right hand

Zhukov killed Galia Fleet to make the Black Mirror, and Maximilian Norcross was able to collect a shard of it. I'd like to think it's within the realm of possibility that Daud might have felt a shadow of the Arcane Bond with Galia when he touches it. Would he even care about what happened to her? Perhaps recall her ambitions and failings.

Also: The Outsider brought the shard back into the Void after the one last true dream vision/visitation at the end of the novel. He used it to construct the timepiece for mission:A Crack in the Slab.

I wonder if he would've influenced an inventor's dreams again like the video short wherein Piero makes Corvo's Mask. The Heart also is implied to have been modified by Piero. I don't think Kirin Jindosh is a good candidate to be the craftsman in this case: he's an associate of Delilah, though I don't know to what extent it marks his soul/Void-within-Being. Though the first incident with the faulty oraculum lenses doesn't seem to do a total bad against his working relationship with Ashworth (since a witch gossips about what they might be doing behind closed doors).

Maybe his elimination is a bit weak on plot significance bc the witches already got what they wanted with the completed lenses, and his progress with mass manufacturing clockwork soldiers hasn't gone anywhere while he's been frying Sokolov's brain over the course of two-ish months--but there's a prototype wip in his bedroom/photo studio.

Honestly, I just want the timepiece's inventor to be from Morley for the representation. And I guess if this person was a big deal before getting Void-induced insanity, that brings more uncertainty to the political situation over there. Just in time for Novel #3

Addendum: Outsider's pep talk "Good job, Daud. In your quest to kill a god, you inadvertently improved the lives of a whole district. But Emily did the real work on that one."

Also: Preview for redux of Great Burning, in the surface of the Black Mirror: whole cities aflame shit for some reason or another


	50. reverie xxii: cycle of seasons

Dates in DOTO aren't water-tight, but I want to think the game ends in the Month of Darkness. My basis for this is the final date in [document:cultist diary](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Cultist%27s_Diary), assuming it began in 1851 and carried over to 1852.

The Outsider died in the [Month of Darkness](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Born_in_the_Month_of_Darkness), was reborn a god, and made human again when he knew seasons as they were.

Discord Addendum: Billie collects all the operatic audiographs at Shan Yun's and plays them for Daud. (How else would Daud have been able to record his farewell without an audiograph machine?)

"This is so sad. Billie, put on Born in the Month of Darkness."  
"So this is what the Eyeless peddle about who the Outsider was. I'm not impressed."


	51. catalogue: idioms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A list of idioms found within the games

  * Lead a bloodox with a carrot
  * faster than a weathervane in Gristol
  * right as Gristol rain
  * dry as an Overseer's prick
  * when in Karnaca... (truncated in TROD) ...do as the Karnacans do  
[but not all roads lead to Karnaca]



well-wishing

  * may the wind favor you



swears & interjections

  * rot in the Void
  * slit your ricker
  * by the prophecies
  * Outsider's crooked cock
  * Outsider's hairy crack and balls



my own inventions

  * [Morley] never pay a wolf to watch your wethers  
truncated form: "dub to dub"




	52. setup x: an early end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daud quits the DLCs early

My friend said he never finished Brigmore Witches. There is an alternate timeline where Daud nopes out of Delilah’s game and Em is forever lost to the Void. But in this no-hope scenario, Corvo drops Emily in the high chaos Lighthouse encounter.


	53. reverie xxiii: Sokolov sucks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I [submitted](http://justdishonoredthings.tumblr.com/post/177043181262/img-source-1-2-3-4-5-jdt-realizing-that) this short essay to JDT in reaction to another submission about [blaming Burrows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15502458/chapters/35993022) for everything wrong in this series.

Sokolov enabled several terrible things in the series.

  * Not only did he use Roseburrow's whale oil technology to create war weapons and security devices capable of instantly vaporizing people, but the resulting oil boom brought a flood of impoverished immigrants to work in Dunwall.
  * He invented steamer whaling ships and within three decades the whale population around the Isles became depleted to the extent that the ships must go farther out towards Pandyssia to hunt them.
  * While he did cure the Rat Plague in a collaboration with Piero, Sokolov pooled several test subjects from innocent people and infected them with Plague in full knowledge that they will die.
  * Not to mention he taught several people at at the Academy of Natural Philosophy who went on to do more terrible deeds in their careers.
  * His interest in occultism is likely what led Delilah into practicing black magic after her apprenticeship, and his self-serving attitude really must have rubbed off on her to mold such a narcissist




	54. reverie xxiv: Vermin and the Void

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> from the discord logs

Void-significant vermin have hive minds bc of a common energy frequency thing

Plagued spirits were an Eyeless Cult experiment to observe possible changes to one's material connection to the Void by exposure to vermin void energies.

I wonder if management at the Spector Club ever thought about buying blood amber from the taxidermist around the corner. It would be an interesting experiment on the effects of aggregated blood harvesting over time. And what's the difference between amber that solidified inside a nestkeeper vs actual nest.

Eventual goal for cloistered cultists: exposure to the Void weakens the divide between self and the All


	55. reverie xxv: itinerary for Rat Plague cure expedition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> from the discord logs

I wonder which direction Corvo's cure expedition around the Isles took. Perhaps clockwise bc Geoff remarks that they passed whales at Whitecliff, which is east of Dunwall. Whales apparently don't like warm weather, so it's unusual for them to appear south during month of Earth. We know it's something like 2-3 weeks for non-fast vessels to get from Dunwall to Karnaca, dunno about the travel time between other capitals. But apparently the circuit gets completed within two months.

[[book:The Movements of Corvo Attano](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/The_Movements_of_Corvo_Attano)] states that two months was the timeframe for the mission. But anyway, Corvo probably got to visit Serkonos' Royal Conservatory for that consultation with the natural philosophers. Inquired about historical diseases and all that.  
You'd think that the expedition vessel would've been carrying real deal scientists and not just military & security dudes.

Corvo got blamed for the assassination, but did anyone else who'd been with him get into hot water by association? Curnow could've been assassinated sooner than the approx. six months later when he has the meeting with Campbell. But it was more convenient to off him when an altercation between City Watchmen & Overseers risked the Abbey's reputation (what were Overseers doing at Treaver's Alley, where there apparently are bordellos).

Another idea: the equivalent of epidemiologists were selected by Burrows and packed away in the ship to keep them away from researching the rat plague problem on site.  
Guys like Galvani slipped through the cracks and were on the verge of breakthrough, Sokolov was held on at Dunwall because of his status and vanity...

(But what got me thinking about this was: why hadn't Corvo stopped by his childhood home during the expedition? Well, likely that the diplomats were quartered in the Duke's old palace's guest residences and there were a lot of people to see. And Corvo is already used to standing around looking menacing in a low profile way.)  
I guess the plaque also was something thrown in when devs wrote the game. If they'd been really far-thinking, Theodanis might have told about the plaque bc ofc that's the kind of thing a person would tell their young protege.

Perhaps there'd be a quarantine set up at the docks for incoming Gristol ships (or at least Dunwall & other southern coastline communities) and those extra three days of observation shave away leisure time to wander cities.

Another thing to think about: how out of his element would Corvo be in foreign lands? Lots of people say things at him like he's never crossed Kaldwin's Bridge or smth and stayed holed up in the Tower. But if Jessamine went somewhere, she'd ofc bring along her bodyguard. So how much did the public see of the Empress?

There's a Corvo commentary that they'd take a boat out on mornings to the lake. Dunno which lake--maybe the stuff held in by the waterlock? That's going out, but not out among the people. Jessamine might've been obligated to say some things to inaugurate the big Rudshore statue of her that was raised maybe '35/36.


	56. reverie xxvi: who is the Knife of Dunwall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did the identity of Daud become when he fell out of the Outsider's favor? And how did he lose it when the god's attention turns back on him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> from the discord logs

It stopped becoming a choice at each kill and more of a process, a procedure. Even if he got creative with the breaking, entering, setup. It became about hoarding power through wealth & security through contingencies. He stopped seeing distinction between his targets.

It's the opposite of AC1 Altair's character development. Al-Mualim tells Altair (while pushing him to shut up and do as he's told for the little redemption quest): "you too are a politician in your own way."

[topic:What did Billie think?]  
I think it's more like, pre-Jessamine Daud always seemed untouchable. Untouchable is the ideal to get away from the hurt. And Billie's always been hurting from losing Deirdre. But she masks it to survive. Daud loses his touch and everyone starts doubting/dauding him. Mutiny in the ranks is inevitable because the ideal is to cut their way to the top: be the best in the field for the highest pay and all that. Being legends, being like the spirits that walk the world. Killing an empress is the pinnacle of success bc Jessamine represents the power of the institutions. She has godlike omnipresence by being the face minted on imperial coin (I got this idea from a lecture event analyzing Ovid's [Ex Ponto 2.8](https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidExPontoBkTwo.php#BkEIIchVIII1) To Cotta Maximus). The Empress is worth 30,000 apparently


	57. ficlet: ominous lines collection

The knife is older than the Outsider. It stole his breath, it stole his name.

[[The Mad Survivor](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Mad_Survivor): _It has taken my water, it has taken my blood, it has taken my seed. Why will it not speak to me?_ ]

* * *

There are two ghosts in the attic. One visits inside the other’s head.

 


	58. reverie xxvii: trees and the Void

[text:Cultist Scribblings](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Cultist_Scribblings)

> This one liked to carve wood. Once he carved a small whale. He spoke to it and kept it in his pocket. Its grains knew all of his secrets. Just as I do.

[text:Born in the Month of Darkness](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Born_in_the_Month_of_Darkness)

> They found a path away from the light  
> To an ancient tree withered by blight  
> A sacred altar, encircled in stones  
> Twin blades of bronze, sharpened on bones

witch [[audio](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/174815430419)]

> He’s here now. Can’t you feel it? The mist is whispering his name. The trees are bending close to listen, to see whose blood will water their roots.

Umberwood is a protected export of Karnaca (maybe the rest of Serkonos too) and is the material for most of the wood-based collectibles in DH2.

Void-significant trees. Thinking trees. Trees that can substitute for bone material. Trees growing in blooded areas.

Tonal/Void magic: The kinds of trees that become instruments.

[Outsider shrine speech](http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Outsider_Shrines/Speeches)

>   
> In case you're wondering, Paolo's not one of those unhinged cultists who believe I'll grant them favors if they leave a big enough offering or play just the right musical notes.  
> 

 

 


	59. hc ii: first sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wherein the Outsider reconstructed Daud's scarred eye at their first meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by that picture that has Daud zoom in by putting his hands up to his eyes in imitation of holding binos or smth while one whaler stands off to the side

Daud's vision got augmented so he could do the telescope zoom, on top of looking for bone artifacts. Maybe it's like getting an improved bio eye when the Outsider marked him, if Daud got his face carved open just prior to their first meeting.

There's a line from Granny during mission:House of Pleasure that implies she gave up her sight to the Outsider on some level (Granny: No, don't take anything else. I did what you asked; they just wouldn't listen. Let me prove myself to you? darling?).

The way I imagine it, it's not as drastic as when the Outsider passes Billie a bit of the Old God's Eye to replace her missing one. Maybe he did some kind of time magic to restore just Daud's eye and let the rest of his face scar up.


	60. setup xi prescience & conscience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a time loop, Billie decides to stop Daud before he can complete the Empress contract

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [inspired](http://augmented-mind.tumblr.com/post/111891524143/whispers) by augmented-mind's Billie/Delilah fanart  
>  spymaster!Billie AU  
> from the discord logs

Billie and a thing for the Kaldwin good looks + charisma

AU: prescient Billie grows a conscience and tells Daud that the consequences of the empress hit could go tits up in a ditch on several levels. Therefore, new ot3: Billie/Jess/Corvo

Hiram Burrows' plan is exposed and Billie takes the office of Royal Spymaster. Daud gets quietly paid a princely sum to fuck off into an early retirement. He opens an orphanage.

Luca Abele is gonna be so pissed off to learn the girl who killed his brother is now an Exalted Urchin. He accuses the Crown of setting up the incident like it was an assassination all along, but Theodanis doesn't want Serkonos to go to war with Gristol. (If Luca hasn't already moved back to Karnaca when the Plague hit, his dad will definitely recall him at this point).


	61. ficlet: swindled of the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billie made a bad bargain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [inspired](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkPugRises/pseuds/TheDarkPugRises) by discussions with TheDarkPugRises for a scenario about putting Corvo in the Void  
>  a draft from the discord logs

What would it take to set the world to rights? Was she prepared to sunder a family once more after spending two months in close quarters with the Kaldwin girl–no, the Empress. What gratitude would that be when Sokolov had been returned to her? She could've done it herself if she—

If she—

[not-phantom pain from arm; reveal here as scene-setup that she'd been working at polishing the Knife even though there was no need. The repetitive action helped focus her thoughts up to this point. She ‘drops' it and its existence folds back into her arm. Swearing]

[also scene setup: they're traveling cheap on the Ocean and don't have the luxury of separate cabins. Billie has been sitting on the floor while Outsie is lying on the bed, hands twined/clasped over his diaphragm, and his fingers occasionally flap between the gaps. He notices her disquiet]

"Something on your mind?" [he gets up on his elbows and leans over the shitty excuse of a mattress–it's still softer than a lot of things he'd been on]

"I fucked up. I fucked up _everything —_for Daud—for you." [fists over her thighs, gnashing of teeth. the cabin is too cramped to be pacing in it but she won't go out into the corridor]

"It's happening again: everything's falling to pieces. Not just one city—"

[she had laid out newspapers on the floor for her workspace; there was just something about the contrast of cheap sheets and black print that made her feel _. she crumples a broadside in one squeeze with her left hand and gets some satisfaction in slapping his arm with it even though it's not rolled into a proper tube.]

"The world. What a swindle the Void twisted out of you, trading me for the world." [Outsie tugs the sheet out of her grip and stretches it flat; reads out the headline] "Have you ever thought our lives don't even belong to us? One way or another, the Void will shred our being to bits."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Composition time on this was maybe 20 minutes


	62. ficlet: business and pleasure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [inspired](https://xaidread.tumblr.com/post/177962134879) by azul-alvarez's idea of a disaster son for Daud
> 
> Mirror imagery borrowed from [Maybe You Knew](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9615959) by hobbitdragon

Daud Jr looks at Corvo’s face when they rescue him from Delilah’s spell. He looks over to Emily and sees her joy, the relief, the same eyes mirroring the Lord Protector’s own. He thinks: "If this is what happens when you mix business with pleasure, then let the Void take the consequences." He wonders if he can catch in a looking glass the same radiance between the Late Empress and her Corvo. He confesses his parentage on the spot. The glass pane of his heart shatters, but the refraction multiplies the rays wildly, infinite reflections upon reflections that dim the deeper he peers in. He can’t hold it in. The edges cut his hands. He bleeds on the folding sword, the same sword that failed to skewer an empress the first time but cut true on the second. He can’t hold it in, but he holds on to the blade to keep his guts from spilling out. He dies on his feet, which is more than he could have said for so many others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I managed to tap this out within twenty minutes.


End file.
